A Groovy Encounter
by WarriorCatstheRPG
Summary: AU/Original Characters only! A very unusual loner tom with a 60's vibe meets the locals at Barley's Farm and they set out on one far-out adventure! Awesome.


_Author's Notes: _

This is NOT a standalone story; it is a collaboratively written story originating from our RPG, written out in posts made on our game to create a giant collaborative story. The authors featured in this particular story are:

_Groovystar: _Administrator of Warrior Cats the RPG and writer for Brody, and Naka.

_Neruka: _Also on staff for our game, Neruka writes for Axie in this story.

This is and AU series taking place long after the book characters have been forgotten, and branching off of the first series so most things seen in the series after these books will not be seen here although fan tribes and similarly names alternative Clans will feature prominently. This series features ONLY original characters!

Now, on with the story! This story features loner characters, but more to come in the future will feature Clans!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

An impossibly tall, lanky tom sauntered through the wheatfield towards the north side of the barn. Brody's tongue dug pieces of meat out from between his teeth after his last meal. He had had some mice and rats already today and was not hungry anymore, at least not for the time being. The big-eared cat was full in belly, but feeling empty elsewhere. He was lonely, and tired of living on the fringe of the territory of others. Slowly he was wrapping his mind around the fact that it was time to leave here soon and grab a territory for himself.

But even that wouldn't be quite enough. Brody wanted the companionship of she-cats, like he had had in his soft past life. So far, though, he hadn't gotten any takers. Not that he was letting that get him down. There was time yet.

A small flock of starlings flew down over the field and fell into invisibility among the blades of tall grass. Brody turned his head to watch and especially listen to them. It wasn't hard to hear their ruffling, pecking and twittering beyond the blades. He wasn't hungry -now-...but why not catch one for later? His black lips spread into a toothy grin. "Awesome."

As he slunk towards them, the birds took off. Brody focused his hazel eyes on one of the nearest ones and leaped several feet into the air after it. His claws clapped down on the hapless bird and when he landed he had it in his mouth. "Hmmm...maybe I'm hungry after all." He decided, yes he was. "Cool."

He started to eat.

After little was left of the bird besides wings, a couple bones and a whole lot of black feathers, Brody burped and rolled over onto his back, stretching his front and back legs out away from each other in what looked like yards of black-furred sinew and muscle. A catnap was in order. Brody lay where he was as the shadow of the barn shortened and uncovered him to the sunlight. As the daylight warmed his fur he lay on his back and closed his eyes.

*~*~*

_I might never get to do this again, EVER_, Brody had thought that night when he had discovered the hole in his enclosure fence and slipped out. "YEAH! Freedom baby!" He did an eight-foot midair leap for the hell of it and danced about under the moon in the field he had only ever seen from behind the fence.

And he wasn't alone. His five she-cat mates were out as well now, wandering and sniffing about as they took in the unfamiliar rush of unexplored territory.

Brody had soon wandered out past the yard, easily leaping the back fence and landing on the other side in a place he had never seen.

"Wait," called a small, shy voice, and the tall wild tom looked over his shoulder to see Niki climbing up to the top of the fence, then leaping down after him.

"Aw cool, you wanna come too!" Brody grinned, flashing white teeth in a black face.

"Just for a little while," said Niki, as though she felt she should apologise for even leaving their enclosure at all. "I just want to do this--just this once."

"Hey, that's cool," said Brody. "C'mon!" He trotted through the foreign yard, and he and Niki ran, played and explored through the places that they had never seen.

"You know, I've been thinking," Brody meowed after a while of excited silence. "We don't, like, have to go back, ever. We could like, make a home out here and like, go wherever we want to. Anytime."

"But who would feed us?" said Niki, meowing with a fearful, hesitant sound to her voice.

"Aww, I would like, totally help you out with the food issues, Nik. We could like, you know, learn to hunt for real and we could raise a family."

"That sounds grand," said Niki, "but i just don't know, Brody."

"So, well, you want to, like, think about it for a while?" he asked as they walked side by side, huge and black, and tiny and silver. both of them looked ahead of them along the path of the tree-lined sidewalk.

"Yes," said Niki as they walked.

They walked for a while longer, Brody enjoying the fireflies, the sounds of the night and the thrill of not having any fences to stop him from going wherever he liked. "So...Nik...now that you've had time to like, think about it...what do you think?"

"I can't do this." Niki stopped. "I--I need to get home. It's going to be light soon. Brody...are you staying out here or do you want to come back?"

Brody felt crestfallen. Out of all the females he shared his home with, he felt the most for Niki. "Um...well, I like, totally understand." He bowed down and licked her on the cheek. "I'll come back too in like, a few...I dunno, a few...I dunno. But I'm totally coming back sometime. I'm gonna miss ya...till, you know, till I do come back if, you don't wanna come with me now."

Niki nuzzled his black fur. "I'll miss you too. We all will. I'll keep a lookout for you."

"You want me to like, walk you back?" Brody didn't want to see the house again so soon, but he would do that for Niki.

"I'll be fine," said Niki, stepping away from him already.

"Uh...are you sure?"

Niki gave an affirmative meow. "I'm fine. Thanks Brody. Take care of yourself out here."

"I will...yeah. I'll miss you." Brody watched her run off into the night, back up alongside the thunderpath the way they had come. He turned back away when he could no longer see her. Freedom yawned larger and more foreboding now, with no one beside him.

*~*~*

Brody's mind lingered on his last memories of the life he had left behind. Though he had closed his eyes, it was a bit more time before he drifted off to sleep.

Waking up, he felt a little hungry again. Brody stretched and rolled back onto his lazy feet. He felt as alone now as he had that night he had parted company with Niki.

Axie came up from underneath some bushes and looked around. She saw Brody and walked up to him "Hi." she said.

"Whoa...hey there." Brody was still lying down. The long, long cat squinted his hazel eyes open and gave a big yawn. Was today his lucky day? Well...more like lucky night, seeing as it was now getting dark. "So, like...what's a gorgeous she-cat like you doing in, like, uh..this place?"

He got up onto his feet and stretched, first placing his long black front legs in front of him and stretching back, then walking a few big strides forward and stretching his back legs that way. Though immense, his head was not much larger than a normal cat's and therefore looked a little small for his body. "I'm Brody...it's totally a pleasure to meet ya. Who're you?"

"I'm Axie" she said sitting down "And the reason i'm here is cause, well i don't know i just ended up here. you could say i'm lost." she said looking around her

Brody sank back down to his belly, so that he could look up at her instead of down. It just felt more homey that way. He was also tired of folks getting put off by the sight of him. "Whoa...that's like, a -total- coincidence or...somethin. I'm kinda lost too, even though I like, sorta meant to get lost." He paused. "I mean, actually, I ran away. It was like totally boring living with twolegs--that's where I came from, living in a big like, cage thing where they put us, you know? Then there was this like, hole in the fence and when I saw that I was like--whoa, it's freedom time fer the Brodester. I've been wandering round here for a while, it's like, good hunting here. What about you, where'd you get, like, lost from? Do you want to find your way back?" His huge ears flickered, they seemed in nearly constant motion as they registered little sounds all around them.

"well i kinda ment to get lost but i didn't whant to get lost here." she said looking up at the moon then looking back down. "same with me kinda, but i left for other reasons" she said looking at him

"Ohhh...hmm. Yeah. I totally understand where you're coming from, Axie." Brody looked from the full moon back down to the tabby she-cat's face. "Soo...I'm wondering, like, do you -still- wish you didn't, like, get lost here?" His stomach growled, loudly enough to be heard from nearby. Brody was hungry again. "Those other reasons...do you, like, want to like, talk about those other reasons or would you rather just..would that not be cool?"

"Actually i'm glad i got lost" she said smileing "How about we talk about those reason durring a midnight snack" she said. She too was hungry she hadn't ate science this morning.

Brody hopped up with surprising speed. "My stomach just said that's like, a totally cool idea. One thing about this place--the hunting is awesome." The tall, lean young wild tom headed towards an area where he knew they'd find rodents--the rats that made their homes in a fallow area now overgrown with long grass and saplings. Prey were sparser out there than they were in and around the barn, but Brody liked the challenge that it brought--plus there were fewer cats out here and prey were sometimes less on their guard because of that. "This way," he said to her. "Out here's where it's totally fun to hunt."

Axie fallowed him "Cool" she said keeping a eye out for prey.

Brody's steps became much quieter as he strode slowly through the grass, slower and slower, looking over the tops of the golden stalks. But he was listening more than looking. The prey would be hiding in the grass somewhere they could not see. Brody could hear tonnes of sounds coming from all around him, most of them from insects. He tuned those out, listening in for the signature noises made by rodents scurrying among the grassroots.

Brody's ears rotated forward and he looked straight ahead. He had heard something, all right. He would guess it was a vole or lemming or something similarly sized. He prepared to make the leaping pounce that would bring it down before it even knew what had hit it.

Axie stayed perfectly quite, while Brody was stalking the vowel she was looking out for any other prey.

Brody leaped full into the air towards the sounds that he had heard. He came down hard on what turned out to indeed be a vole, crashing down hard on it with both front paws and stunning it. He took it in his jaws and bit down, killing it for sure. He dropped it and caught his breath. "Sweet."

axie smiled "Good job" she said and suddenly she heard something in the grass. She peered through the grass reveling what she had heard was a rabbit. she quitely moved though the grass sneeking up behind the rabbit. She got ready to pounce and then leaped up, but the rabbit was quicker and hopped out of the was. Axie landed and leaped once more onto the rabbit. She bit into its neck killing it. she then walked back over to Brody " Food at last" she said.

Brody saw her appear with the dead rabbit and his jaw parted momentarily. He was quite impressed. "Far out! A hunter like you, you're gonna be just fine out here with those awesome skills. Congrats, that is like, awesome. Well now we eat."

He ate his vole up in no time, and once he had finished he waited to see how much of that rabbit his new friend would actually be able to eat.

Axie nodded " I agree lets eat" she said She started eating the rabbit. She eat around 3/4 of the rabbit and then was full.  
" Food tastes good i haven't ate all day." she said streaking out.

"Oh, I love she-cats with like, a really big appetite." Brody lay on his side nearby. He didn't offer to eat up her leftovers, they were hers to part with if she chose, and he was momentarily satisfied with his small kill anyway. Besides...he wasn't about to start looking cheap. "Means you like, got an appetite for -life-, you know? And that's awesome." He stopped talking for a moment and listened to the crickets. "Sooo. Ever like, think of like, heading off from this place and going somewhere where, you know, you can have space and room and all that awesome stuff without, like, having to worry about other cats, like, invading?"

Axie smiled "Thanks" she looked up at the moon " Yeah i have but i don't know were i would go or anything ya know? She said "Hey you whant the rest of this?" she said nodding twords the leafover rabbit. then looking foward at a tree. " i would love to just find some place with a little lake and alot of trees. i don't know why but i like trees. How about you?'

"Aw, thanks, you are one awesome she-cat. I'd hate to like, let this go to waste." Brody moved in and, figuring it was better than wasting it, quickly polished off the leftovers. He settled down to groom himself, now that he felt truly full. "Me, I like, always loved tall grass that goes on like, forever like some of the fields out here, you know? But I also love the woods. And I love water. Streams, pools, any kind of place to just, like, head in and have a swim, maybe catch a few fish. There's like no water round here...one thing about this place that is like, totally not cool." He finished grooming his flank. "But we could like, wander about till we, like, just found a place like the ones we want. What if there's a place that like, has like, -all- that?"

"That would be aswome some ware that was water, forests, tall grasses and everything. That would be perfect, better yet it could be some ware that you can feel safe ya know? she said laying down.

"That sounds like a place we could, like, call -home-." Brody had finished grooming himself for now and he lay down beside her. "Hey, maybe like, tomorrow or, whenever you want, we could like, go look for a place like, with all that awesome stuff like we said?" They could have some adventures, and Brody wouldn't be alone. He had a feeling he wouldn't feel completely at home anywhere if he were really, truly alone.

"That sound great, Tomarrow... Right after breakfast ofcourse" she said starring at the stars.

"Right after breakfast," Brody purred as he lay his head down near her. "Sounds like, a plan. Night Axie."

His dreams were a juxtaposition of strange things. He dreamed he was looking for a new home, but he wasn't alone. Axie was there and so were several of the cats from the home that he had left behind. When he finally reached a place that he liked, none other than Gayana, the grumpy old stud tom from the cattery back home, was standing there in the field in all his spotted glory. 'Whoa, Gayana...I didn't think that you'd like, be here, bro...aren't you back home...this is like, far out.'

Gayana didn't move from where he stood. His expression remained stern. 'Beware the Laughing Death,' he said.

'...like, what?' Brody stared. But as he stared the dream changed and Gayana was there no more. Neither was anyone else he had travelled here with to this strange place. Brody was running through the mist fields, and he was alone.

When he woke up, it was close to morning. Just before sunrise. It was one of his favourite times to hunt.

"Night" axie said and slowly fell asleep.

She dreamed of a place were no one or anything could hurt her and that she would have a place of her own. Also that she wouldn't be alone that brody was there. In her dream she was walking down a feild, but then a pack of dog came and started chaseing her. Right then she woke up, she saw brody. "morning" she said stretching out.

Brody blinked his eyes open, yawned and gave her a lazy smile. "Morning babe. Anyone ever tellya you're beautiful just after you like, wake up?"

He lay there a little longer, then hunger overcame him and he slowly rolled onto his feet. "Whoa, I dunno bout you but I'm like, sooo hungry. Wanna like, hunt again? Or...if you're like, not that hungry yet could you like, wait here'n I'll go grab some breakfast?"

Axie rolled over closer to him and smiled at him "Only you" she said.

Axie stood up "yeah i am hungry" she said standing up. "hunting sounds good."

Brody smiled at her with his nose about an inch from hers.

"Well like, those others dunno like, nothing about what's, like, hawt and like, what isn't. And you're not just, like, -only- hawt, you got like, the awesome hunting skills'n all that."

Brody got up and headed into the grass to find prey again. This time he was hoping for something bigger, but he would settle for small. He wasn't particular. After a while he caught a rat not too far from the barn. He enjoyed the nicely sized prey although it wouldn't hold him for long.

Now that he was fed, what to do? Brody wondered if there was any of this one kind of plant that he liked to munch on sometimes. He thought he'd smelled it briefly from far away a coupld of days ago. He waited for Axie to be finished hunting and eating, before heading off towards the place where he had smelled that scent coming from...

The long, tall black big-eared tom sat down and proceeded to a grooming session by licking his front leg and wiping it over his face.

Axie smiled.

She got up and saw a rat. The rat was surrying around in the grass while she was watching it. She got up and gave a swifted swip of her paw killing the rat. She ate it then went over to join brody.

"Whoa. That was an awesome kill there." Brody had to hand it to her, all things being equal, she was a better hunter than he was. But he could keep himself full, so he wasn't too concerned. He headed off an after a while caught another rodent, which he needed just to stay full. After that he came back over to Axie. "All right..." He sniffed the air and his black lips parted in a smile revealing impressive teeth. He closed his eyes, inhaled again through his big black nose, closed his eyes and grinned into the breeze. "You smell that? That's like, one of the best things bout hanging round here. Catmint. It's like, totally the shiz. If you haven't had any...I like, highly recommend."

He started walking towards the tantalising scent and waited to see if she would follow. Brody felt high on life right now, and what could top that off better than being high on catmint?

"Thanks." she said grooming her self

"Ok." axie said following him.

Brody's explorations soon led him to a field full of it, or at least full of that wonderful smell. The catmint grew scattered here and there among other grasses. "Whoa...awesome." Brody ate one leaf, then another and another. "Just like...don't like overdo it. Too much of the nip and your head goes like iwhoa."/i

Brody rolled on the ground in a long black crescent with a sprig of catnip held between his front paws. He rubbed his face against it, feeling light and carefree.

"hmm you would know how?' she said eating acouple leaves.

"Huh?" Brody heard Axie's voice and looked for her, but he had trouble telling exactly where she was. It was the strangest thing. Then his mind settled enough for him to look at her straight. She seemed bathed in a halo of light. "Whoa, you're like...full of like, light, babe...you're like beautiful."

A little piece of a leaf had gotten stuck to his chin, just to the left side. Brody smiled up at her in a glorious daze. She seemed unaffected...but then. Brody had heard that there were a few unfortunate cats who were never affected by catmint. Maybe she was one of them.

He rolled onto his back and stared up at the clouds. "I'm like, going like, on a nap..." He yawned. It was midday and he felt like getting a little sleep. Partly because he knew he'd have trouble standing up right now anyway, but also because when he ate this much, he had the most vivid dreams.

axie smiled then jumped down and walked up next to him

"Ok." she siad

Just before Brody slipped off to a dazy sleep he turned his head on its side in the grass and grinned sleepily at her. There was a glassy look to his eyes, which looked a little more amber than hazel in the midday light. "Y'know what I, like, love about you babe? You're like, so free, 'n so innocent...and like, anything goes, like, with you...I say anything and you're like, totally cool with it, y'know?"

He looked back up again and closed his eyes...

A place with fields and marshes, woods and streams. And Brody was flying. In his dreams he flew over the treetops...and when he woke...

"Whoa, I was like, iflying,/i Axie...'n you know what I like, saw?"

Axie smiled at him "thanks." she said and laid down next to him.

"Uh, yer welcome but, like..." Brody sighed and smiled at her in his usual calm, almost lazy way, his serval ears relaxed but still swivelling a little, independently of each other, as they picked up minute sounds everywhere. Brody idly began grooming Axie's head. "You wanna hear, like, what I saw?" he said in between licks. "Cause it's like totally rad. I like, saw something that's like, gonna give me some -direction- in my like, whole life...I think."

Axie started to purr "What is it?" she said continually purring

Feeling her purring set Brody to purring, too. It was a huge, deep, loud purr, and he said, "It was another iland,/i babe. Fields and like, water and, like, trees, and woods'n all that cool shiz..." He looked over at her, putting his big puffy black nose about an inch away from hers. "Something like, tells me to go there. So I'm gonna. Wanna like, come with me? Cause I could like, go alone but that would totally be not cool. Not as cool as you. We could like, have an adventure. Maybe even find my dad."

Axie looked at him and smiled " You did? Thats awesome. Of course I'll go with you"

Brody licked her cheek. "Now you're talking, babe! Let's set out at like, sunset...like, after a good nap. I want to be like, rested up, 'n maybe the folks over at like, the Dream pad'll gimme some like, messages telling me shiz like which way it is. Cause I like, got like no idea."

He lay his head down and closed his eyes, feeling the sun warm his coat. The huge tom's purring slowly ebbed away as he slipped into sleep.

Axie licked his forehead and laid down next to him. "Ok a nap sounds good."

She quickly fell asleep.

Brody woke up at dusk, one of his favourite times to be out and about. He felt hungry, so he headed off and hunted down something to eat. When he'd successfully caught and eaten a vole, he padded back through the grass to see if Axie was ready to go. "Yo Axie? You like, ready to go? 'Cause I am, I'm like totally psyched, I know just which way to go and like, all that." He licked his lips and looked out into the distance. "We're gonna like, head east. That, like, cool with you?"

Axie woke up right after brody left. She streatged out, then whent out to get some breakfast. She caught a rat and ate it then went back to ware she was waiting for brody.  
" Yeah." she said walking up to him. " lets go."

Brody smiled down at her, said, "Awesome," and started heading away from the setting sun. He felt the tarnished rays of the dying afternoon warm his back legs, tail and the back of his neck. It was a subtle warmth. A hawk circled overhead and the nightly insects were just becoming active. Brody travelled on, more aware of his surroundings now that they were getting away from the farm. The smells of farm animals, manure and twolegs were quickly receding, and what was left were the subtler scents of the wild lands. Brody had soon strode past the places where he was used to hunting, and into unfamiliar territory. He stopped to mark the area every so often, but it was more to comfort himself, he was pretty sure, than it was to assert any ownership of these lands. No, they were not there yet. They had a long way to go.

"I never, like, found out who my dad, like, really was," he said after a while, breaking the silence. "Wish I'd like, asked more about him before I like, left." Once again, he hadn't thought ahead.

Axie fallowed him closely.

"Oh." she said looking at him " My father died." she said and kept walking

"Whoa, that's like...a bummer." Brody swallowed. He felt bad for bringing it up now. "I'm like, sorry to hear that."

He saw woods ahead and stopped at the place where grass gave way to trees. He stopped, looked and listened as his eyes adjusted to the deeper dark just beyond the fringe of the outermost trees. He picked up the scents of animals in there that he had never encountered.

"it's ok." she said and licked his cheek, trying not to make him feel bad.

She was fallowing him. " Is it through here."

"Uh...um...maybe," said Brody. "I'm like, not sure but I know it's like, somewhere in this direction. I like, know we're goin' the right way."

Did he know? He was following a conviction born of flimsy evidence at best. But it was the best thing he had going in his mind right now, and Brody always followed his heart.

"Ok" she said."Getting lost isn't the worst thing i mean ever adventure has a few twists in it, Right?" She said. "Anyways i know your going to get us there."

Brody grinned down over his shoulder and back at her. "We're only lost if we like, got a home we have to like, get back to. And we're like totally free, babe, I mean we're out here on this trip just like, out to find a cool home to crash at. We like ican't/i get lost."

Axie smiled "Wow i never thought of it that way" she said.

"See?" said Brody, turning back around and strolling into the forest and down the trail of his choosing. "I think this is like, the best way to be, babe. Like, no worries, nothing to like, bog ya down, you know?"

Axie nodded in agreement and looked around while she was walking.

Brody was moving more slowly and quietly now. The sun had gone down and twilight was dying fast. The woods turned darker by the minute, he could even see it getting darker when he stopped for a moment to look, and listen.

Axie looked at him then around again. " Do you think we should rest for tonight and start out early tomorrow? she asked.

"Yeah, you know, that's like, a swell idea." Brody stopped as well and looked around. He turned his head suddenly the other way, his ears both facing forwards. Then the muscles of his well toned body seemed to relax again. He looked back at Axie. "Yeah let's like, stop for the night. And I'm like, hungry."

"Yeah i'm hungry too" She said

"Whoa...you are?" said Brody, "you're like, a bottomless pit. Me, I like, eat a lot cause I like, got a lotta size, you know? But you can like eat forever, and I think that's like totally awesome." He loved a she-cat with a good appetite. "Well I'm gonna like, find a good place to crash..." He looked around and ventured towards a safe-looking large bush.

'Ok, i'm going to hunt" she said padding off. She spotted a mouse near by and successfully killed it.

Brody grinned. "Cool. Well, if yer gonna hunt...so'm I. i'm like, starving. How bout we like, meet back at this bush when we're done?" Deciding he'd better look in there to make sure it was safe, he poked his head in. It was unoccupied and there was more than enough space for a couple of cats in under the umbrella of branches. It would make a great overnight shelter.

Axie ate the mouse and went back to the bush and crawled in. She waited for brody to return.

Brody had to wander in a ways before he caught some prey, finally satisfying his hunger for the night. All that hunting had awoken something in him and he was raring to go. It was just that part of the evening, when he felt full of energy and ready for anything. Though full, he wa still not sleepy. He figured Axie would just drop off to sleep and he would head in and join her any time. For now, he could follow his inclination to explore.

The forest ignited Brody's senses, especially his ears. From far, far away he could hear someone calling...howling. The caterwauling ended just as Brody drew nearer.

He smelled scents associated with open areas coming from beyond where he could see. iThere must be open fields or something just past here./i He was heading towards there when he heard a menacing hiss come from someone sight unseen in the bushes. A sandy-soloured, brownish grey cat with ruffed cheeks emerged that rivalled Brody's size. Brody stared at the stranger.

"Whoa," he finally said.

"Trespasser," said the strange tom, "now I will kill you, othercat...whatever you are."

"Whoa wait," said Brody, "we're just, like, passing through and like, if you want I'll go--uh, I'll just, like, go back the way I came in--"

"We?" hissed the big newcomer. "So there are more than one of you?"

"No," said Brody.

"You're a poor liar."

Brody sighed. "Like, whatever. Look I just want to leave without, like, you know, a fight, cause that would be so not cool--"

"You're not worth a fight. I'll just kill you without one." And the great greyish heavily built tom leaped at Brody. Brody bared his teeth and claws and threw himself at the stranger. The two toms kicked, screamed and rolled, giving it their all for a brief few moments. Then they pulled apart and circled each other again, gathering their strength. Brody was breathing hard, and bleeding from more than a couple of cuts. Now that he had fought this cat through one round, he could see himself maybe beating him. The other cat had more strength but Brody had speed. And determination. Well, he thought as he caught his breath and faced the other cat's fury-furrowed face, maybe that was being a bit optimistic. But he was not about to give up.

They threw themselves together again in a yowling blur of grey and black fur. Their screams echoed through the forest.

Axie was still sleeping, her ears then twitched. She woke up and looked around and didn't see brody. "where is he?" she thought out loud.

Brody and the strange cat circled each other, out of breath but neither willing to give up. Brody knew this cat was going to kill him if he didn't manage to win this. But the other cat, besides being heavier than him also seemed a little more experienced in battle.

"You fight like a kittypet," hissed the stranger.

"Yeah, well you're like, a big bully," said Brody. Comebacks weren't his strength. "I like, isaid/i we'll be like, totally gone in just a little while--"

"Not good enough!" The tom launched himself at Brody and they were fighting once again. The two cats slashed and bit at each other. Brody felt his adrenaline rushing through him like fire in his muscles. The other cat was on top of him. Brody wiggled loose and lunged upwards at the other's head. He didn't get his throat, as he had been aiming, but he did latch on to an ear. He bit down and pulled. He felt the flesh part and come away and he lost his grip, though his teeth had never parted. Brody bit again and this time his jaws closed on the thick-furred neck of his enemy. He felt his opponent's energy surge and movements become more frenetic. He was kicking horribly at Brody's belly but Brody brought his hind legs up to kick back. He felt hind claws slash a gash in his inner back leg.

Axies ears twitched to the sounds of screaming and sounds of two cats fighting. She stood up and crawled out of the bush. She stopped to listen to witch direction it was in then dashed that way. She kepted her pace untill she came apon the scent of Brody and a cat that was unfarmillar to her. She slowly creep up and saw Brody and a large tom fighting.

Brody did not even see her. He was too engrossed in hanging onto the other tom's throat. He had not gotten the jugular or anything, but he had a hold and could feel the enemy breathing. He continued to fight.

Axie was terrified and just froze. She couldn't move at all, This scene reminded her of when her father died.

The other cat realised that he wasn't going to make a quick and easy kill or defeat here. Besides, it was not his territory; he lived nearby, but he was in strange grounds himself. If he let this odd black cat off at this point, maybe he could fool him into thinking he had really defeated him. He pulled away, finally getting free of Brody's bite.

Brody tasted blood in his mouth. He let go of his struggling enemy and they faced each other again, bloodied and panting, both of them.

"I'll let you off this time," said the other cat, "but cross through here again and you shall die." Without another word, he backed away into the bushes.

"Cool," said Brody after he was gone. "Does this like, mean that I like, win?" It didn't feel like a win, more like a reprieve. He noticed Axie was there. "Aww, hey babe...don't worry, I'm all right. You okay? Sorry if this like, scared ya."

Axie jumped down to him. " Are you sure your ok?" she said.

"Aw, yeah." Brody was just coming off the 'battle high' and now that the adrenaline was easing, he began to feel his wounds. He had a nasty on on the inside of his rear thigh and another few on his chest, belly and side. The other cat had also gotten a good swipe across Brody's left cheek. Brody smelled of blood and he knew it. "I guess you could like, say I like, sent that dude packing." He paused to lick his new cuts.

A small, brown, spotted figure slinked out from the shadows opposite where the other cat had disappeared. Brody heard her movement and looked that way. She sat a safe distance away from Brody and Axie and looked up at the black wild cat, her eyes narrow. She spoke one word.

"Showoff."

Axie licked his forehead. "You could say that." she said looking at his cuts.

Axie saw the small brown spotted figure also and just sat and watched

Brody bent down his head so she could reach him. "Aww, thanks babe." He looked back over at the stranger. "Uh, showoff? Like, not really...more like, you know, saving my neck. This dude just like, comes outta nowhere and like attacks me--"

"You could have just run," said the strange femme. "Well, it doesn't matter now. And from what he said, you didn't exactly defeat him. Not by a long shot. So...what kind of cat are you supposed to be?"

"I'm, like, a Brodster," came the reply, "and they call me Brody. You can too, if it like, feels right to ya. And, like, what kinda cat are you--other than like, the beautiful kind, cause that's like soo obvious."

The she-cat sighed loudly with a look that barely tolerated his compliments. Clearly she wasn't going to get a straight answer from him, but judging by what came off to her as a clear lack of intelligence, he might not even know. "I'm Naka. That's what you can call me, othercat."

"Othercat?" Brody thought that that word sounded familiar. And it only took a moment for him to remember why. He had heard it used in the twolegs' home by other cats there, whom he had lived with. "Aw, I like to think we're all like, just like ithat,"/i he grinned, "y'dig?" He decided not to share what little he did know of his family history and bloodlines with her just yet. She seemed a little closed to that sort of thing, and also, he didn't really know her, aside from her name. And did things like bloodlines really matter at all anyway, other than avoiding mating with your relatives? "What like, brings a bodacious shecat like you all this way here?"

"I'm on a search for a land where I can enjoy peace, quiet and solitude," said Naka, "as well as perhaps find a quality mate." She placed a slight emphasis on the word 'quality.'

"Quality toms're like, hard to find," said Brody. "We're like, I guess you could call us, a rare breed." He realised he was forgetting his friend. "Oh, 'n this is like, Axie, my good buddy and a totally stripealicious babe."

Axie just sat there and listened to the conversation going on between the two.

Naka raised one furry, whiskered brow. "Stripealicious?"

Brody grinned and gave a little sneeze of laughter. "Well like, look at her, she's like totally awesome." He winked at Axie. He couldn't believe his luck. He was in the company of not one, but two lovely she-cats. Even though Naka seemed like she was playing hard to get, and Axie, he just wasn't sure what she thought of him other than she saw him as a good friend. And if that was how she would always feel, he was cool with that. At the same time he wondered vaguely what their kittens would look like if the day came when they had any. "So, like, uh, wanna like, join us? I'm heading out to like, grab a good big land to crash at, hunt at, swim at...you know, all that cool shiz. You're like, welcome to come too."

Naka sighed. She hadn't expected him to invite her, a total stranger, along so easily. It was obvious that these were not clan cats though and she couldn't be gladder for that. The next clan cat she saw would end up a dead cat if she had her way. "I need time to think about this. I'm not one for just traipsing off to wherever, with showoff Othercats or whatever you call yourself or for that matter just about anyone. You wouldn't be heading towards any clans, would you?" She looked from Brody to Axie.

Axie looked at Naka for a second "I don't know about Brody, but i don't want to deal with any clan cats" she said.

"I like, never really met them," said Brody. "But like, I went padding through those lands where it's like, sooo many cats, you like smell 'em all over the place and you can like barely smell anything else, you know? Not cool."

"Then we're in the same tree on that," said Naka. "Good."

"So yeah like we're not headin' into any clans or, that shiz, I'm goin' east to like, wherever i can like get a nice big land to live."

Axie nodded in agreement " I'm trying to stay away from Twolegs and clans"

"Yeah, like, I totally second that," said Brody, using the phrase almost correctly.

"Sounds wise to me. Twolegs are a plague on our world." Naka was not thrilled about the prospect of having Brody as her tomcat when the time came. But she couldn't exactly fault him for being, well, not quite what she had had in mind for a male when she grew a need for one. Beggars couldn't be choosers. And who knew, maybe after they had travelled for a little while she would pick up the scent of a better male and part ways with these two. Neither of them seemed like great intellectual company, which Naka knew might chafe after not too long.

"Like, what's a plague?" said Brody.

"A plague is something appering in large numbers" she said turning towards brody.

"A sickness visiting upon many," said Naka, "generally over a large area." She spoke with the thinnest veneer of patience.

"Whoa, thanks," Brody smiled. "Well it's like, way late. I'm like, tired." And he was still in a bit of pain. He needed to rest after having been in that nasty fight. He also wanted to partake in some nip to take the edge off the discomfort, but there was none growing around here and he was too tired to go looking for any. He hoped that wherever he chose to finally settle down there would be a steady supply of catmint. Because, d**n, there were times he really needed the stuff. "Wanna like, all go back to like, that bush we found, and like, get some like, winks?"

" I geuss" axie said already starting there.

"Lead the way, although I will make my own sleeping space nearby," said Naka. She wasn't about to just curl up with these cats she hadn't grown up with and barely even knew. How un-cat-like that would be!

"Cool," said Brody. He started heading back to the bush, retracing his steps from earlier in the evening. Now that he was walking, a couple of his wounds were bothering him even more. The bleeding had stopped, but the movement of his body pulled the skin in now-sensitive places. Maybe he would end up with a few sexy scars. iShe-cats totally dig them,/i he thought with a smile. "So like, where are you comin' from?" he asked Naka while they walked.

"I was born a loner and am still a loner," said Naka. "I come from nowhere special."

"Aw, like, everybody comes from somewhere special," said Brody. "Even if some places are, like, more special than others. I was born in a twolegs place. Totally not cool there. Then one night there was like, a hole in the fence! I was like, yeah, freedom, awesome! and now here I am, walking in these woods with like two awesome she-cats here. It's like, so weird how that shiz happens, you know?"

"Well," said Naka, "never having been tainted with an existence in the shadow of those furless monstrosities, I wouldn't know."

"Whoa," said Brody. "I dunno if they're all...all that you said. They're just like, totally not my thing."

Axie just listened and walked. She wasn't about to share her past with anyone, at least not yet.

Nala refrained from saying anything more barbed than, "Ah. I see." She turned her attention to Axie. She had hardly heard Axie make a sound since they'd met. That might have been partly due to Brody's vacuous yammering, but she suspected it was more because Axie felt shy for some reason. Naka did not consider herself particularly intimidating in appearance; she was smaller than Axie, for one thing. Maybe Axie was simply shy?

"So, Axie, is it?" said Nala. "How did you come to be travelling with...him?"

"Name's Brody." Brody smiled at her.

Nala gave a snort. "Yes. I know."

" I was sleeping in some bushes then i heard something, i came out and saw him. We started talking, and now where here" she said

Brody looked behind him and tossed another toothy grin at Naka. "Isn't that like, awesome?"

"Not the first choice of words I'd use but I can't argue." Naka felt too guilty to say anything truly insulting to either of them. They were dumb as rocks, but they had welcomed her into their lives--even if she wasn't sure she wanted to be in their lives--and even offered to share their nest with her. Curse this conscience! she thought to herself.

"Aww, here we are. Cool." Brody ducked his head and slipped in under the big bush. "Aww, yeah, nothing like, laying down'n sleeping after a wicked battle." He found an area under the bush that would accomodate him and plopped down onto his big, long black side. He lay there grooming himself, which he always did before sleeping at night. He paid particular attention to the wounds, which were sealing up into hardened clots.

Axie crawled into the bush and found a spot and laid down. She laid there thinking about the day and everything that went on.

Brody ran his tongue up the inside of his forleg, which pointed up at a diagonal like a long black furry stick. "This day, like, totally rawked, like, didn't it?" He smiled lazily at Axie. He noticed Naka wasn't in the bush with them, but was too tired and comfortable to get up to see where she was. Besides, he wasn't worried about her. She could take care of herself. "Oh, uh, like, goodnight Naka, like wherever you are!"

"Goodnight," Naka answered politely from not far outside the bush. She found a place nearby to sleep, a hollow in the base of a large tree trunk. The bengal she-cat curled up into a well-camoflaged curl of spots and went to sleep.

"..hmm...yeah it was interesting" axie said half-sleeping. "Night everyone" she said and fell asleep.

Brody lay his head back and closed his eyes. He slowly rolled onto his back. "Night babe."

Brody slept so soundly that the noises of morning failed to wake him at first. He twitched in dreaming. Visions of a lovely place filled with catmint, she-cats and endless meadows were where his mind lived at the moment. He ran through those fields so easily that after several long, floating strides, he was flying over the field. Brody flexed his paws. As birdsong rang out through the treetops overhead, the servaltom slept on.

Naka slipped out of her tree-hollow to get some hunting done. She wanted to do it before the others were up and ready to go; she liked to be prepared. It was a matter of pride that kept her on her toeclaws, wanting to be one step ahead of anyone she kept company with. She would not be someone that others ended up waiting around for.

Axie was sleeping but then woke up to the sounds of the birds above. She crawled our of the bush and stretched and went deeper into the forest where she caught her last meal, hoping she would catch another.

Brody woke up to find himself alone. He stretched himself from one end of the bush to the other, till his hind feet poked out the other end. He felt a few of the worse war wounds throbbing in discomfort. But it was nothing that wouldn't go away as the morning wore on. "Whoa. What an awesome dream."

He stretched his hind legs out behind him as he strode slowly out of the bush. Brody could smell Axie and Naka's scents around the area so he knew they hadn't left that long ago. They were almost certainly out hunting.

"And well, I am like, really hungry." Brody disappeared into the forest to hunt, and as he did so he kept alert for any animals larger than himself. But the only ones he saw of that kind were deer.

He returned after a hunt successful enough to keep him full until later in the day. Brody would probably want to stop for a cat-nap at high noon.

Naka was already sitting near the big bush. Brody saw her in the light for the first time. She was quite pretty, very exotic looking. He'd never seen a cat quite like her before. Brody nearly always thought that when he saw a new she-cat, but he thought it especially so for Naka. "Mornin' babe."

"My name isn't 'babe'."

"Sorry, like...uh, Naka. How'd you like, sleep?"

"I slept very well, thank you."

Axie caught a mouse and found a nice spot on top of a rock and ate it. She sat in the sun for a while then went back to the bush. She saw Naka was already there. She was sitting on the second to lowest branch on a tree above the bush, She waited for Brody. By the time he had gotten there she was in her own little world thinking.

Brody watched Axie sitting there in the sun. She was a beautiful creature. Brody wasn't knowledgeable about a whole lot of things, but he was taken by beauty. And to him, Axie really had it.

Naka watched the two of them staring away. "Are we going to get going or just enjoy the sunshine?"

"Hey, hey, slow down, like, take it easy," said Brody. "Take it like, slow. There's like no hurry. Hurrying is so not cool. If you're walking with the Brodster, you're like, walking slow. you only live once, you know? I like to, well, enjoy stuff, not rush through it and like, miss all the good parts."

Axie heard them talking and Finley got out of her thinking mode. She jumped down and landed by Brody. "Naka is right in a way, if you know where this land is. Others might too, they might get there before us and claim it." she said.

Brody thought about this for a moment, then he nodded slowly. "You may be right, babe. But this is like, the way I think about this kinda shiz. If like, some other tom got it first, then like, that land wasn't, like, THE land to begin with. It's gotta be, like, some other land."

"Where exactly is this land?" said Naka.

Brody looked calmly at her, almost too calmly. "It's like, at the end of this journey, babe. When I like, see that land, I'm like gonna totally know it. It's, like, a spirit thing."

Nala sighed. "So in other words you don't know where it is or where you're going."

"Aww, I didn't say that." Brody angled his huge ears to the side, then faced them forwards again. "It's like a real deep kinda thing. I know just where I'm going. When I look around, I get these like, answers that I just kinda know. They tell me, Brody, go that way. And the way I'm, like, going now is there." Brody started walking east again, the same way he had gone last night when he had encountered the enemy cat. "Last night I like, smelled and heard some cool things. There's like a field just past these woods, like out the other side."

"Well we either find the land or end up being somewhere else and sooner or later find another land, so it all works out" Axie said "Anyways we should get going."

"Axie's right. It's like, there's slow, and there's like, too slow." Brody started eastward again. He didn't fancy hanging around if that other cat was going to come back around again. At least not till Brody was a little older, stronger, and more experienced.

Naka trailed them. A new feeling was coming over her and she was dreading what it meant. But she knew, she knew.

After a long time travelling, the woods gave way to copses interspersed with meadow. Brody stopped at the woods' edge to look, smell and listen. Farther away, a few deer grazed in the meadow. "Whoa, this is like, where it's at."

"Really?" She looked around a spotted a pond down a little further from a small hill. "I found a pond" she said still looking around.

Brody came up behind her. He smelled water as he did so, and heard the sounds of small creatures that made the water their home. "AWESOME find Axie! Woohoo! It's swim time, dudettes!" Brody splashed into the water to enjoy a good dip.

Naka longed for a dip too, as her breed enjoyed it as well, but she refrained. The last thing she wanted them to see was her all wet and bedraggled. After all, if she went into that water, eventually she'd have to come back out.

"I'm going to look around more" Axie said and went off past the pond, a little farther into the fields.

"Kay Axie, catch ya later." Brody decided to go fishing while he was at it, but his splashing into the water without thought had scared all the fish away. Brody emerged from the water a little way away from where he had gone in. He shook himself off like a dog, only he finished off the shake with a dainty shake of each hind leg and foot. The sun warmed his black fur, offsetting the way that the water had cooled him. After a little while exploring, he hunted down a rabbit in the fields nearby. Finishing that off, he found a place in the grass to have a snooze. Maybe this was the place where he would stay. So far he had seen no signs that anyone else owned this land, and in his explorations he had marked several places himself. Others coming in would know another cat was already here.

Axie kept walking until she found a fallen tree above a stream. she climbed over it and kept going. she turned around and walked back. She caught a mouse and ate it, then headed back.

Brody woke up a little time later, by which time it was getting into late afternoon. He hunted again, and afterwards decided to go find Naka and Axie. He wondered if either of them was going to come into season soon. And if either of them did, would they want to mate with him or vacate the land of Brody? He would respect their choice either way, but it was pretty plain to him that he preferred one outcome over the other. That's one thing that like, totally rocked about the twoleg place, he thought to himself as he strode towards the forest. Lots of shecats in the mood.

Still, he valued freedom above all else. He wasn't going back.

"Naka?" he called, wondering if she'd decided to leave already. He had more faith that Axie would return. She and he were already much closer friends. "Axie?"

Axie was curled up on a rock in the middle of the field looking at the stars thinking, the she herd Brody and she got up. She stretched and padded over " ..yeah?" she asked.

"Aww, you're just chilling," said Brody, standing a few feet away. "Chill on, babe. Don't like, lemme interrupt that, that's like, a thing of beauty, you know?" He grinned. "I think we're like, home. I'm gonna go find Naka. Catch ya later, babe."

Axie walked over and licked his cheek "Cya" she said and walked back to the rock and curled up again.

Brody felt something when she licked his cheek. It was a thrill that made his claws extend into the grass. A purr radiated from his throat and filled his whole body with vibrations...good vibrations. "Seeya later babe," he said, sounding a little bit drunk on life.

He headed back through the field with a spring in his step.

Axie looked back and smiled at him. Then looked up at the sky it was getting dark, she could see a faint moon but with all the orange and pink it was hard to tell.

Nala walked through the grass, too restless to sleep, and unable to find enough appetite to hunt even though she had not eaten since early this morning. Her taste for food had vanished, pushed to the back of her consciousness by a more urgent need that was taking over her instincts. iYou knew this was going to happen. It's why you went following his scent through the forest in the first place./i Brody's scent did not feel quite right to her, but it was close enough. And she could at least rest assured that he had nothing to do with any Clan cats. There was no way she wanted Clan blood flowing through the veins of her future kits...to her it was no better, maybe even worse, than that of a kittypet.

She just hoped that if she chose this tom, her kits didn't end up dull-witted like he was. She gave him credit for having the brains to survive, but sooner or later an idiot met a foul end.

~*~*~

"Naka? Nak--whoa." Brody followed the scent of the bengal towards the bushes just in time to see her step past them. There came the sounds of twigs breaking and paws pressing on dead leaves.

Then, Naka let out a bloodcurdling scream. She followed it with another one, even longer ear-splitting screech. With a loud gravelly hiss, she burst forward out of the bushes.

Axies ears twitched "What was that?" she thought

Naka threw herself on the ground and rolled violently on the grass. She stopped for just a second, then rolled again, rubbing and pressing her cheek against the ground. After a little while, she lay there in a crescent-shaped brown heap of rosettes. iToo late now to change my mind,/i she thought.

Brody stepped out into the field and sat down near the bushes' edge. He groomed his nether region.

Naka drew herself up and looked at him, then looked away, hating herself, hating the whole world for forcing a decision on her that she had not felt quite ready to make. Well, she had faced worse before. It was just one of those things where she had to trust her nature. When it came down to it, her nature was all she had.

Axie pondered it until she saw a brown spot in a field, she thought it was a dear but she went out to look at it just encase it was something more threatening. She kept walking as it felt like forever but when she got there, it was empty i seamed that whatever was there wasn't anymore.

After some more time in the bushes, a few more screams and few more rolls, Naka headed back towards where she had last seen Axie. Her fur had bits of grass in it from all the rolling and it had some dust in it as well. But she couldn't be bothered to groom herself for now. She couldn't be bothered to eat either, even though she smelled the trails of more than one small rodent on her walk.

She just wanted female company for now. It was suddenly a comforting idea.

Axie walked back to the rock and looked at the sky. She scenced Naka and walked over "...hi."

Naka suddenly realised what a mess she was. She had Brody's scent all over her and her own scent wasn't exactly the usual either. She blinked at Axie, hiding her embarrassment with a cool gaze that was nearly a glare, but it looked too sad to be a glare. She longed to come out and spill all her feelings to Axie, confide in her everything that worried her, but she couldn't get the words from her mind to her mouth.

"Hi."

Axie ignored what a mess she was and was trying her best to have casual conversation "Did you hunt scince this morning?" she asked.

"I haven't been hungry," growled Naka. She glanced behind her, but Brody was not there. She was glad. She'd told him she wanted some alone time.

"Thats understandable , why hunt if your not hungry." Axie said.

Naka paced around the immediate area. "My sentiments exactly." She finally sat down and began furiously grooming her fur. Ick, she was more of a mess than she'd realised. At least she hadn't had a dip before she had gotten down and dirty. Otherwise she might have ended up with dirt caked in her fur, too. Especially sad since she considered her coat her best feature.

The petite bengal resumed pacing around for a bit once she was done. She had nowhere in particular she wanted to go and all the energy in the world to get there.

Axie nodded "..soo" she said no knowing where this conversation was going to land.

Naka sat down about two foxlengths away from her. "Have you ever had kits?"

Axie looked up, somewhat shocked. "Yes, once" she said.

Naka was surprised. Axie seemed young to her, young enough to not ever have had kits before. " Was it a horrible experience?"

"No not really. All the pain goes away after you see the kits, you get the feeling and power that you would do anything to protect them and it seems like nothing else is important but them." she said

"I've heard such," said Naka. "I suppose I'll find out everything when the time comes."

"You will don't worry" axie said.

Naka still decided not to blurt out that she might be expecting kits. She wasn't sure if she was, and until she was sure, there was no point getting her whiskers in a twist. "I'm just wondering if it's possible to try all you can and still end up being a horrible mother. I've heard kits are so fragile."

"There can be no possible horrible mother if you try your best" axie said sitting down.

"If I ever have kits, we'll see about that," said Naka. "I've never been very maternal."

~*~*~

Brody was roaming farther up the fields, marking as he went. He hiked along a stream bank grown high with reeds. He was hunting not only for prey but for any signs of other toms. He did find the scent of one, but chased him away without incidence. Apparently the other male had no greater an investment in this land than Brody had when he had first arrived, and maybe even less. But Brody suddenly had a large investment in it. Everything had changed now, and he was here to stay. He stopped to mark again where the reeds met short prairie grass.

Other males would not be welcome.

Naka heard the grass rustling not far away and Brody stepped in between two tufts of grass. He dropped a rabbit, partly eaten but still with plenty of meat left on it, near where the two she-cats were.

"Hey there." Now that his mouth wasn't full of rabbit, he could speak. "Like, sorry I kinda noshed on it before I got it back here but this is like, a little present. And like a celebration, you know? Cause we like, found this place, that place I saw in my head was like, totally for real. That place is this place."

Axie was about to say something then Brody walked in.

Brody looked at both of them. The looks both of them gave him seemed similar on the surface, but to him they could not have been more different. "Uh, well, hey, uh, enjoy the kill. I'm gonna like, let you two like, talk. Catch ya later."

Naka watched him go. "Thank you," she called after him, finally finding her voice.

"Aw, don't worry about it! Enjoy," called Brody as he headed back out into the night.

Naka looked down at the partly eaten rabbit and began to nibble at it. Maybe she was a little bit hungry. "So, you were saying?" she asked Axie.

Axie nodded a thanks and then went back to the conversation after he left "I don't know you that well but i couldn't see you being a bad mother"

Naka began to feel badly for seeing Axie in the negative light that she had originally seen her in. Naka had not been overly kind to her or Brody but both had treated her well. Brody had something to gain from that, but Axie didn't, not as much so anyway. Naka could trust that Axie was simply being honest and kind to her. "Maybe with you around to coach me through it," she said. "That is, on that distant day in the future."

She ate a little more of the rabbit. Her hunger was creeping back, and she was beginning to feel more normal again.

Axie smiled "Hey after your done eating do you want to see this huge fallen tree i found.

"I can't finish this whole thing myself," said Naka. "Do you want to eat some now or should I bury it for later? Or for Brody to polish off, whenever he gets back." She chuckled.

"Yeah sure I'll eat some" she started eating and she ate until she couldn't eat no more. there still was a good bit still on the rabbit. "You think Brody wants the rest of it?"

"His stomach has no bottom," said Naka. "He'll probably finish it off when he gets back but I don't know when that'll be." She started digging a shallow hole, and dragged the remains into it. She kicked the loose dirt back over the kill. "That should do till he gets back. All right...what's special about this tree you found?"

Its Like a cave but a tree, Its hallow on the inside but it goes on for along time, plus the tree is huge." Axie said

"You've piqued my curiosity. Lead the way," said Naka. "Quickly while the night is young."

The night actually wasn't young. It was well on into the deepest night, probably round midnight, but Naka still wasn't sleepy. At the least, she could stay awake long enough to go look at one stupid tree.

Axie leaped up and lead her to the old fallen tree. She walked past the stream and through the fields and finally got there. She stood at the entrance it was at least two fox-tails above her head. "Well this is it." Axie said.

Naka had even more space than that between the tops of her ears and the log's ceiling. She wasn't stupid enough to just enter, but rather she listened carefully, then sniffed the air inside the log. Not surprisingly, it smelled mostly like moist, decayng wood. But that wasn't all her nose picked up on. "I smell snakes in there."

Axie leaped away from the entrance "I didn't even pick that scent up" she moved a little for farther away "It's a good thing you noticed that"

Naka felt proud. "I've smelt snakes in their burrows before. There were a lot of them where I grew up."

"Wow thats cool" axie said. Then she thought of something "Hey if theres places like this there might be even more dangerous places, there could be badgers or foxes around here for all we know."

"That's why we must never let our guard down," said Naka. "There are all sorts of dangers out here. And now...for my future kittens I'm going to want to locate a safe, secure place to have and raise them. For now, though, it's late and we should head back to where we were before, if only so Brody knows we didn't run off. Tomorrow I'm going to begin looking for a place to eventually make a nest."

"Thats true we always need our guard up , we don't know whats in this land, where not in a pathetic clan and have your clan mates fight your battles you fight yourself" she said. "Your right we should be heading back, we should also warn Brody about the tree" she said and started walking.

"I wouldn't worry too much about Brody," said Naka. "That beast can take care of himself. I just don't want him thinking we've left. Not that he'd probably be assuming so." Naka started heading back towards that spot in the field where she'd buried the rabbit. It would make a good breakfast tomorrow if Brody didn't eat it...

When she arrived, Brody was sleeping next to a hem of small bushes nearby. The rabbit lay buried just where she'd left it.

Brody picked his head up. "Aw hey, like, how are you." There was a softness to his voice.

"I'm all right. Thanks for leaving the rest of the kill for us."

"Aw, you don't like, hafta thank me or nothing for that. I like, gave it to you, it's yours." Brody yawned, then lay down his head again.

Axie nodded "yeah thanks" she said "I'm going to be on that rock i was on earlier if you need me." she said and walk into the field and jumped on the rock.

Lately she had been thinking a lot about her kits, about the land, and about her past. She could understand thinking about the lands but why the others and why now. She sat on the rock and just stared into the sky not knowing what to do.


End file.
